“So, Danjo, you use any magic?” John said.

“A little. Mostly earth magic. I can lift some stones and stuff, work with some metal… not a lot.”

John had explained as little as he could. Danjo’s sister was stuck somewhere, captured by some unknown group or individual. John was pretty sure there was a fifty percent chance there was slavery involved in this fiasco somewhere. If this was a stereotypical isekai, there would definitely be a slaver somewhere.

“Dumbass stereotypes. Can authors make the early stage bad guys something other than slavers for once?” he muttered as the thought came to his mind again.

However, John had some lingering doubts. For one, shouldn’t kidnapped people be easy to recognize? It wasn’t like they could cover their tracks that easily, right? Moreover, something Fate had said kept bothering up.

“She can talk?”

Why was Prota’s ability to speak something that mattered? Something just didn’t line up. He’d ask Fate about it later.

Regardless, John had explained how they were going to raid dungeons to make a name for themselves and prepare to rescue his sister in the process. Danjo seemed pretty pumped up about it.

“So… have you ever fought before?” John said.

“...people,” Danjo muttered. “I’ve fought people.”

“You’ve- hold on, you’re telling me the only things you’ve fought are people?” John frowned. “No monsters? Just people?”

“They were mean,” Danjo pouted, crossing his arms.

“...” John just shook his head. “Well, I suppose people can be just as annoying.”

“Not like it matters if we die, anyway,” John muttered, looking at Prota. “How about you? Sorry, I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to you the past few days. You doing ok?”

She grabbed his hand and nodded.

“I’m ok,” she nodded, a hint of a smile in her eyes. “You stay safe.”

John laughed. “Yeah, I’ll stay safe.”

Danjo shoved his hands into his pockets and raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Aren’t you strong?”

John laughed. “Strong? That’s a pretty funny joke. No, I’m pretty weak.”

“...how are you gonna help my sister if you’re weak?”

John just gave him a thumbs up, thinking. If this was a story, what kind of character would he be? He seemed hotheaded, but he must’ve also been smart if he was doing stuff like artificing… hothead genius? Was that even a compatible character type? Regardless, if that evaluation was correct, it would help later on, probably.

“Come on, Danjo, let’s go dungeon diving.”

~~~

“...you’re going dressed in that?” Fate said.

Everyone had some sort of protective gear on; leather armor, boots, cloak, whatever. John was in his usual hoodie, t-shirt and sweats. The only thing the could’ve possibly passed for protection was the scarf wound around his mouth. One could’ve argued that it might be a filter for poisons or gases, but that was a stretch so far even John wouldn’t bring it up.

“What?” he frowned. “Something wrong?”

There was a moment of silence as a light snow started to fall over them.

“You- never mind,” Fate sighed. “If you get hurt, I’m not wasting potions on you.”

“Huh? Oh,” John realized as he looked at his clothing. “No, I'm not going dressed in armour. Piss off.”

“By the way, does our team have a name?” Danjo said as Fate prepared his papers to show to the guards guarding the entrance.

“Name?” John frowned. “Why do you want something like a name?”

“You know, 'cause we’re a team?”

“A team…” John muttered. “A team?”

These people should be disposable. Means to an end. That’s what they were supposed to be.

He wasn’t supposed to get attached again.

“Hey, wait a minute,” one of the guards said. “There’s one more step.”

“One more step? We need something else?” John grumbled.

“Mandatory mage level assessment. Don’t know why, ask the higher ups.”

John sighed. “Aren’t our licences enough?”

“Sorry,” the guard shrugged. “Rules are rules.”

Everyone passed normally. Fate was an S level, shocking the guards. Prota controlled herself to a B level as per John’s instructions, and Danjo registered a low C. However, there was a small mishap as John stepped up.

“...red? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

John flinched. His power level was at one. Was that supposed to… what if he…

“Power level: x2” he whispered, his eye barely glowing.

The sphere turned black.

“...manaless?” the guard hesitated. “You sure you’re a B rank adventurer?”

“Yeah?”

“With a manaless core?”

“Yeah, I shoved it all up your mom last night,” John scoffed.

“Why, you-”

“I’ll take care of him, so can we just go?” Fate said, trying to diffuse the situation. Thankfully, the guards left it at that, casting a few glares at John but otherwise staying at his position.

“A team name, huh?” Fate said as they passed inspection. “I’d be up for a team name. By the way, John, please don’t complicate things any more than we need to.”

“You’re kidding me,” John sighed, also annoyed that he’d been told off, but Prota seemed mildly enthusiastic about the idea, and so he had to comply.

“How about… team Gaians?” Danjo offered.

“Isn’t that just… the dwarf god?” Fate chuckled. “Might as well call it team Lunaris.”

“You’re an elf?” Danjo said. “You don’t look like one.”

“Half,” Fate shrugged. “Long story.”

They both looked at John as if expecting him to offer the name of the human god, but he remained silent.

“Team Celeste?” Danjo offered, bringing the conversation back to where it’d started.

“No.”

The group bickered among themselves, sitting at the opening to the cave, driving John further and further into madness until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Team… Team Salvare,” John said. “We’re all trying to save someone here, right? Team Salvare.”

“Salvare… you know, you do have a brain in there,” Fate chuckled. “Is that Latin?”

“It means “save,” quite literally,” John sighed. “I’m not that creative.”

“It’s a good name, though,” Danjo grinned, conveniently missing the part about “Latin.”

“Prota?”

Prota gave a small nod, which was all John would get.

“Guess it’s decided, then.”

“Let’s go, Team Salvare,” Fate said, taking his first steps into the dungeon.

~~~

“You’re manaless?” Fate whispered as they ventured deeper into the dungeon.

“Something like that,” John muttered back. “Don’t worry about it.”

“But you’re a B rank mage-” Fate started, but John covered what would have been his mouth with his hand.

“Shut,” he said, ending the conversation.

“You weren’t lying about being weak, huh?” Danjo said casually as the cave started to get darker. Fate lit a flame in his hand and led the way.

“Yeah,” John shrugged. “Guess I’m unlucky.”

“What are you doing here, then?”

“Sheesh,” Fate muttered. “He’s ruthless.”

“I’m, mm…” John mused, putting his finger on his chin. “Oh. I’m moral support.”

“Moral support?”

“I’m your mascot,” John grinned.

“...really?” Danjo said, clearly disappointed.

“Sure,” John shrugged. “Well, in reality… I’m more here to look after her,” John said, patting Prota’s head.

“...isn’t she supposed to be protecting you?” Fate said.

“Something like that,” John said with a small smile, leaving it at that.

They kept walking, but nothing happened.

“Are… are dungeons supposed to be this easy?” John worried as they went in deeper.

Nothing was happening.

“...I don’t know,” Fate said, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. “I’ve never been in one of these.”

“I thought you were some famous adventurer,” John grumbled.

“I never had a party, ok?” Fate exclaimed. “You need a party to go into one of these.”

“...” John just sighed. “So what do we-”

He didn’t get to finish as Prota threw him backwards, blasting out a fireball and taking out a shadow wolf that had leapt out from the darkness.

“...” John swallowed as he stared at the dead beast on the ground.

“Heads up,” Fate muttered as growling could be heard from every direction.

Prota’s eyes lit up as she took her staff off her back, and a volley of icicles appeared, ready to fire. Fate’s golden eyes shone as he himself summoned a circle of fireballs, more intense than those Prota could create.

“Me too,” Danjo gulped, pulling out a sort of small device and a hammer. With a small click, the hammer grew and started sparking with electricity.

“Good luck,” John said as he got up.

“Good luck?!” Fate exclaimed. “You can fight! What are you doing?”

“Fight?” John shrugged. “What are you talking about?”

“You-” Fate started but was interrupted as the wolves brought the fight to the party.

They weren’t particularly fierce, but there were a lot of them. Fate launched his fireballs all at once, taking out a large number of them as Danjo charged in, swinging his hammer and smashing another two of them. Prota stood back, piercing the head of wolves one by one with her icicles, saving a few for any that got close to John.

“She’s taking her job seriously, huh?” John thought with a warm smile that went unobserved. He leaned back and relaxed.

The group was finishing up. Fate had switched to wind magic, gathering the remaining wolves up and preparing a large fireball to take them all out at once. Danjo fell back to take a breather, and Prota stood back in case anything happened.

Unfortunately, the group was so focused on the wolves they could see that they forgot the reason the beasts were called shadow wolves. One leapt out from a dark corner, its fangs bared at Fate.

No one had time to react.

“Fate!” Danjo yelled, reaching out, but he wouldn’t make it-

Bang.

A crack echoed through the tunnels, distracting everybody. Heads turned to see John holding a massive revolver, barrel smoking hot. There was a loud click as the barrel rotated, ejecting a bullet case. John pulled another bullet from his hoodie and slid it in, shoving the gun back in his pocket.

“Be careful,” he said quietly, pointing to the remaining beasts.

Fate flinched, then nodded, sending his fireball crashing into them, ending their first fight.

~~~

For the next five minutes, Danjo did nothing but ask to see the weapon. John obliged, to Fate’s surprise.

“You’re an artificer too?!” Danjo exclaimed, observing the thing. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I’m not really a-” John started, but Danjo interrupted him, continuing with his pestering.

John had explained somewhat roughly how the gun worked, albeit with fantasy terms. A preset fire charge triggered when he pulled the trigger, creating a controlled explosion that launched the bullet out of the gun.

Unfortunately, John hadn’t realized that controlled explosions were works of intermediate level artificers, and this lead Danjo to believe that John was some kind of high level apprentice.

“Danjo!” John exclaimed. “I’m not- I bought this, ok?”

“You- oh,” Danjo said, losing his energy and handing the gun back to John. John could, however, still hear the boy muttering plans to himself as they carried on. He inwardly grinned to himself. Danjo would definitely create something great for Fate someday.

He might not know this story, but all stories followed similar plotlines. There was a kind of formula they all followed, and if you knew the formula you could predict what would come next.

“Fate,” John said, catching up.

“You know where we’re going?”

Fate looked back and, seeing Danjo was out of earshot, whispered furiously. “You have a gun?! Why do you have a gun?”

“It’s- don’t worry about it. Remember what you told me to do back then?” John said, tapping his gun. “Easy solution.”

“Don’t- for god’s sake, John, I meant control yourself, not use some… otherworldly weapon? Or rely on small children, for that sake?”

“Aren’t we all children?” John grinned. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure no one will question it. The gun, I mean.”

“What-” Fate started, then realized John was serious.

“You really think no one’s gonna question that?”

John shrugged. “Yeah. Did anyone question your sword?”

Fate hesitated but left it alone in the end. “Fine.”

They kept walking down in silence until John brought up a question that’d been bothering him for a while.

“By the way, what kind of rewards do we get from dungeons? Gold? Rare materials?”

“Not all dungeons have good materials. There is, however, a mana crystal at the center of each one,” Fate explained.

“A mana crystal?” John frowned.

“You don’t- right. A mana crystal increases a mage’s capabilities, just a bit or a lot, depending on the size. However, this power source also increases the strength of beasts nearby. As we get closer, we’ll meet more and more powerful monsters. The stronger the monsters, the larger the mana crystal.”

John thought about it and realized it was a pretty good item. In a game, it’d be like an XP boost or something, a material for easy levelling up. “Have you thought of who’s going to get it?”

Fate hesitated. “Well, I don’t need it. Do you need it?”

John shook his head.

“Your sister?”

John hesitated, then shook his head again. He presumed it would likely increase a mage’s mana capacity, which was pointless for Prota.

“Danjo, then. He’s only a C rank mage, anyways.”

“I’m a no rank mage,” John reminded him. “What about me?”

“You don’t count,” Fate grumbled, pushing further into the dungeon.

~~~

“How are the experiments going?”

The man with the tentacles sat at his desk, a drug burning at his desk and filling the room with a strange aroma. The man reporting fought off the urge to cough.

“Smoothly. They’re going as predicted. No setbacks or improvements.”

“...acceptable,” the man sighed.

“Doctor.”

The man with the tentacles’ eyes snapped up. “You haven’t called me that in a while. What’s up?”

“There is a team of four going around a dungeon right now.”

“So? Adventurers are clearing dungeons all the time. We’ve harvested some good ones from those who’ve wandered into ours.”

“They have that boy.”

Doctor’s eyes shot wide open. “What?”

“Moreover, they have that girl we’re interested in. It’s too much of a coincidence to be…”

“I see your point. Good report. Now leave.”

The man at the desk nodded, started to walk out, then paused.

“By the way, Doctor… I don’t know about all of this.”

“You chickening out? Did you forget what they did to us?”

“But… aren’t we just doing the same to others?”

Doctor paused, then grinned, a wild look in his eyes.

“Why, isn’t that half the fun?”

The man hesitated, then nodded. “I see. See you later.”

~~~

“Huff… huff…”

John wiped the blood off his mouth as he took in deep breaths of air.

The fight they were in had affected him a lot more than any of the others. Five large stone golems had appeared, each insanely tough. Prota had done her best, but with Fate looking after Danjo, John had been left somewhat exposed. His normal lead bullets weren’t enough to pierce monsters like those, and he’d ended up taking a massive hit, the golem sending him flying into the cave wall.

“John!” Prota cried out, running over, wincing as she threw up a wall of ice to block a punch coming her way. It wasn’t enough, and she was sent flying towards John, who caught her with his body.

Unfortunately, that meant more damage for him.

“Guh-!” he gasped, blood spurting out of his mouth.

He kneeled over, grabbing his stomach. It hurt, but not that much.

[Aren’t you glad [Determination] exists?]

[Shut up]

John could see Zero gloating in the air. [Determination], an ability he normally considered useless. An ability that negated pain the stronger his emotions. Right now, his emotions weren’t very strong, but seeing Prota get slammed had trigged a little something in him, enough to stop him from blacking out.

[Do I really have to use it?]

[You have other options, you know]

John grunted as he threw up some more blood.

“Isn’t the protagonist supposed to do something by now?” John muttered. “Come on. This is the big moment where you reveal your hidden powers.”

Fate, unfortunately, was busy protecting Danjo.

“John!” he yelled. “Stop with the act already!”

“What act?” John tried to yell back, but it was weak. He suspected there was a bit of blood in his lungs.

“Just fight!” Fate yelled. “I can’t take care of-” he started but was cut off as he let off an explosion that barely pushed back another stone fist.

“You’re not using all of your power either,” John thought hazily. “Where’s your sword, idiot?”

The thoughts seemed to reach Fate, since the boy pulled his katana out of his sheath, the blade glowing gold.

“Blade dance!” he yelled, flickering out of vision. A thousand golden cuts appeared on one of the golems, dicing it into pieces, leaving three remaining.

“John!” Fate yelled. “Get up!”

“Prota,” John gasped. “Use your ice magic. Freeze my body.”

“Freeze?” Prota frowned slightly. It was enough to show just how concerned she really was.

“Just do it!” John gasped. “It’ll act as a temporary cast until I can get healing.”

Prota didn’t like it, but she did as he asked. A thin layer of ice spread across John’s chest, effectively creating a makeshift cast that numbed the remaining pain and allowed him to move somewhat.

“Kh,” John grunted, pulling a rocket launcher out of his hoodie. Fate momentarily stopped to look.

“What the hell?!” he exclaimed, jumping out of the way of another blow.

“Yeah, I should’ve used this in the first place,” John said apologetically, taking aim.